Ozzy Batty

Sorry I havent written much in the last few weeks, but holy !@#>#@# things changed real fast and in a hurry for me!! The Bulls have continued to struggle, but somehow I was able to....okay....let me start from the beginning, or at least earlier than where things are now. Back in Ireland, for pretty much my whole life, I had dated this lass named Odette. We were in primary school together, then part our secondary school years before I moved to be closer to the rink to practice. But along the way, we sort of became a couple. We both enjoyed hockey, watching, and playing, especially on the same side. We were at the rink together so much that she ended up actually playing! One night, our goalie just didnt show up. I mean, it wasnt a super important match or anything, but we had no one to put in goal. There was Odette though, sitting in the stands, ready to cheer us on. My coach called me over and asked if she wanted to play, how would I know? I skated over and asked her, she just about jumped the glass! We got her in the kit and wow...she was good! So we ended up teammates. Everyone thought we would get married, but I left to pursue my hockey dreams while she stayed in Galway to finish her education (she wants to be an English teacher). Little did I know that she continued to play hockey...and improve. I was leaving the ice after practice a few weeks ago and the coach called me over, said I was wanted in the GM's office. All sorts of things were running through my mind, especially when I saw he was on the phone. He cupped his hand over the receiver and told me I was wanted on the phone. He mouthed to me "I think we found a goalie" as I took the phone. I didnt know who to expect, I couldnt think of any reason he would want me to talk to anyone, until I said hello. It was Odette, that lovely voice from my memories! She told me they wanted her to come to Houston and become the goalie! I was over the moon, but (isnt there always a "but") her Da wouldnt let her come to America on her own. He is very old-fashioned about some stuff, I am still shocked that he let her play hockey in the first place. I stumbled over my words as I asked what I could do..and then I heard "welllll...." (I can hear her saying that in my head all of the time!) she had a plan. Her Da would agree if she was married. Yea, she was asking me to marry her! She is 18, I am 17, yea, it is young! But, we had always talked about getting married but I wanted to see what would become of my hockey career...is it possible I could have both?? I said YES! But then I needed to talk to my Da, talk to my coach, talk to the GM...yea, lots of conversations. To cut to the chase...I flew back to Ireland, got to se my Da and Ma, and while I was there, attend a wedding, my own!! So here we are, Odette, my wife, living in a small apartment near the practice facility. I miss Doug being down the hall, but it is awesome to have Odette here with me! And oh yea, we have a goalie for the Houston Bulls!! Now to start winning some hockey games!

1. Yes! I know she is busy moving her stuff from Ireland and getting settled in Houston (finishing up the school year and her teaching career) but she will at least be doing her welfare and weekly practice. I think the proof was we were 2-0 the last sim, I dont think that has happened all season! 2. That we gel and show the league what we can do. It is great to see us able to win games. We have all of the pieces in place to really turn this around. Even with our struggles, we were able to score and I think we will still be able to do that. Now we have someone in net, I think things will only get better. Gutsy prediction: 8-6-2 3.To be honest, Doug. I mean, I dont watch much hockey, but I didnt expect to see a Defender being able to score with such ease. I guess that is not fair to the others on the team because I know Doug so I recognize his name. 4. Wow, can I give the cliche answer? I want to be the best teammate I can be. I have said I want to lead the league in assists, so that is my goal. 5.I have never been able play sports with any kind of success in real life. I am the kid who would strike out playing t-ball, or trip over the sideline in football. My sports career consisted of sitting the bench and cheering my teammates. So this is where sim leagues are a way for me to enjoy success that I could never even imagine happening. I guess I have to say they have all been there. I cant select one to be honest, I was selected 10th as a kicker in a live draft for a football league; I won Special Team Player of the Year in my 3rd season; I tied the season record for FG attempts and broke the record for FGs (I had one blocked); and I was awarded ownership of a hockey team in another league. So yea, I cant really pick one. 6. Yes! Dessert should be eaten first! I think. If I had to pick one, it would be carrot cake. But not just any carrot cake, the recipe my grandmother used. She never wrote any of her recipes down, but before she passed away, she told my Mom and my wife how she made the cake. So I get that on special occasions. I dont know if it is the cake, or the memories that are associated with it, but if I had to pick one, it would be that.

Recruited @Odette.Boudreaux

+10 Otis Boudreaux

Dateline: Houston, TX. Man, this was a long walk back to the dorm. I dont think Doug and I said 2 words between us the whole time. We have seemed to become good friends, at least from my point of view, and I think we both knew that some times there are no words that are powerful enough to break the silence. We have been practicing so hard, so much. I mean, I wonder at times if I could even raise my legs up off of the bed. I ached in places I didnt know I could ache. I have read that walking can help with leg aches, but I dont think any walk could take this ache away. Our season isnt off to a good start, hell, it is going pretty bad to be honest. The preseason didnt go to badly. We were starting to gel and we were playing more and more as a team, not just as a bunch of individuals that happened to be on the ice together at the same time. That is, until the unthinkable happened, we lost our goalie. I dont know all of the particulars, so all I know is that one day he was there, living in the room at the end of the hall, stopping those shots on goal (ok, not all, but he made us competitive) and then he was gone, not only from the room at the end of the hall, but also from protecting our net. So our season went into a tailspin. Take tonight for example, we played at home against Mexico City. The house was rocking, Mexico City has a great bunch of traveling fans. The music was loud, our fans and theirs were getting into it, and we were ready to give them a show. But it didnt go how we planned. Yea, I got 2 more assists, I think that gives me 8, or 9, I dont remember. We scored 3 goals...but we gave up 7. Most of the time 3 goals is a good foundation, but not when we cant seem to stop anyone from scoring against us. Doug is skating his heart out but there has to be more than one guy trying to protect the net. The coach had us shift to a more defensive strategy, but it didnt even help. He congratulated me on getting the assists, but I could hear it in his voice, he is wanting to figure this out. I mean, the goalie we have let in 78% of the shots he faced, 78%. Yea, the odds are not in our favor on that one. Hopefully we get a goalie soon, or I am afraid that no matter how many goals we score, it wont ever be enough.

That is fine, I LOVE it. Now it is up to me to make a name that is worthy of this! Thanks again for making it!

I joined this league as a way to experience things from the other side of sim leagues for a change. I am an owner in 2 other sim leagues and now have 2 hockey players going through this process, in different leagues. Yes, that in itself can get confusing! But everyone here has been wonderful in helping me get things figured out. I cannot thank you enough for that. How is my plan to just "experience things" going? Remember, I wanted a place to just enjoy the process and not get too involved. I got my player created, wasnt sure what I was doing, but got some advice and think I created a good starting build for a 16 year old Right Winger who is more interested in assists than goals. Dont get me wrong, scoring goals is great, but I am not an attention hog, I have no problem at all setting up my star Center to make the goals. But from there, Otis Boudreaux, Right Winger of the VHL was born. Within hours of my player creation, I had joined a VHL fantasy league. There isnt anything wrong with that, except I didnt know anyone in the league and with the skill distribution changing, it was all just a guessing game. I was put into a group and within a couple of days the draft for it started, that was an experience within itself. Okay, in a fantasy league, going to just ride it out and see what happens.... The preseason, I am not sure what our record was, HA, it disappeared too quickly. I do know at one point I had 4 assists and, if I remember correctly, 3 goals. But I do know we didnt have a strong preseason. I was able to improve my player, but as a team, we lost our goalie, so any goals we do score are quickly erased by the onslaught from the opposition. After the first week of the regular season, we are 1-4-1. I am not sure how many goals or assists I have, I havent figured out where to find the stats at yet, HAHA, but I will. I just want us to win more matches, I guess that is why I know our record and not my personal stats. I have also found out I can earn points by writing, something that I enjoy doing, it helps me to relax and think about things other than the craziness of life. So how is my foray into the VHL to just enjoy the process and lay low? I have written a journal entry from my player's point of view, a game review, a media post review, now this short article and joined a fantasy league, yea, that seems quiet to me! Oh, and I get to have my good friend as a teammate, Doug Britton, so that is the icing on the cake! I dont know what the future holds in the VHL for me and Otis, but I have enjoyed it so far and I look forward to the next part of the process (and me making sure I know which league things are in) Have a great day and I will see you on the ice!

Review: The detailed game summaries were very easy to read and contained enough information to engage the reader, but not so much as to bore them in an overload of data and narration. The most challenging part of doing a game summary is to achieve the balance of just enough narration and just enough game summary. I feel like you have done that admirably. The game summaries provide an easy to follow game flow that provides the reader with the highlights to enjoy the games, without trying to decipher all of the data that accompanies the impersonal game overviews that are shared after the games are over. Well done, on a scale of 1-10, I give this a 9 (everything can be improved on, but except for the "teacher things in me, I cant see how on this one)

When the Numbers Tell the Whole Story Hockey, is in my humble opinion, a game pf percentages. The chance of a "golden goal" is always there, that one shot that scores that one goal that wins the game. Yes, it happens, but it is rare and no one seems to believe it the story when we hear of it occurring. The toughest part of watching a sport where this can occur is how we deal with it when the opposite occurs? Where a team suffers such an onslaught of shots that the numbers eventually have to break against them. Yes, the exact same thing occurs, people do not believe that such an imbalance of shots can have actually occurred. The VHLM just witnessed that in a recent game between the Mexico City Kings and the Halifax 21st. Game 30 of the current VHLM season saw this oddity of oddities, a game with such distorted statistics that are so hard to believe. But yes, they are true. The game saw Halifax come away with the victory with a convincing 5-0 score. The score doesn't look so bad, but the shot total shows the imbalance of this game. Halifax won the game convincingly, the shots for Mexico City: 9, for Halifax: 43, yes, that is correct, 43 shots. The worst period that Halifax had was the 2nd, 14 shots and no goals. The 1st period saw then take 10 shots and score 2 goals, while they had 19 shots in the 3rd and scored 3 goals. The numbers were on their side. Granted, their goalie helped by keeping out the 9 shots that Mexico City did take and that was enough to keep the shutout, but that was even less shots than Halifax had in their lowest period shot total. The Mexico City goalie also stopped 88% of the shots he faced, but that is where the percentages turned against them. What can each team take from this game? Mexico City can be proud of the fact they stopped 88% of the shots they faced and even though they dealt with a 43 shot battering, they only gave up 5 goals. Halifax can enjoy the fact that the percentages were on their side, that they were able to score 5 goals, and thus win the game. But who knows what the future holds? Maybe we will witness a "golden goal" or more than likely, more examples of how the percentages have such a huge impact on this game.

F The Board Game Clue on Skates @Enorama

I was hoping to do one of these a week. I thought I would have the time to jot things down and put them together in a coherent fashion in the evening as I enjoyed a nice beer, boy the jokes were on me. Firstly, I dont have any free time!! The coaches here in Houston are AWESOME! But they reminded me that I am a 16 year old that isnt quite as good as I thought I was. I thought I was so great, practice was something to attend, not be active in. That is until I met these coaches. From morning until night, I am on the ice. I am skating, I am deking, I am practicing my shooting, my passing, then hitting the weight room. Finally I get to come home, take another long hot shower and fall into bed to bed ready to do it again the next day. Secondly, I cant believe the pre-season is over and we are already into the regular season. Where is the time going?? We are doing okay, I am doing pretty good, at least according to my coaches, but I want us to be winning more. I have met this guy here, Doug Britton, what a nice guy! I feel like I have known him forever. He is a defender, but we seem to work really well on the ice. He is across the hall from me and we talk on the way to and from the practice arena. I think he can finally start understanding me now, HA. Thirdly, what is this stuff they call "beer" here and why cant I drink it? I would give anything for a good pint of Guinness!! But even if I COULD buy it here, I CANT drink it! The drinking age here is 21. Five years??? Man, is it time to go back to Ireland for a visit yet? Lastly, the food. Well, the buffets that we have at the practice arena and before games is great. I am so glad, the other food here is...well, not a good Cod and chips! There is so much to get used to here. The food is different, the beer is different (so I hear), the weather is VERY different...well, the list could go on. But the great thing is that once I get on the ice, everything feels like I am back home again. The feel of the skates gliding across the ice, the feel of the stick in my hands, the vibrations after I hit the puck and that explosion of adrenaline as the lights and sirens go off after we score a goal! I cant explain the rush that comes over me when I see my teammate speeding down the ice, sliding into position as I feed him the puck for him to sneak that little backhand shot to score a goal. At least that is the same, at least that feels comfortable. I asked my coach today about what he wanted me to focus on in my training. He seems to get me, he really wants me to be the best that I can be...and I cant wait to see if this hard work is going to pay off. More the next time I can raise my arms off of the bed...

G Papa Emeritus That should be the 2nd one, sorry about that @Enorama

oh sorry, didnt realize. Do I make a new post or edit the one I have up there?

D Jerome Reinhart @Enorama

1. We didnt win!! I didnt expect us to have trouble scoring like we did. We seemed to be able to score during the pre-season so I didnt think we would be scoring so low. But it is still early, lots of hockey yet to play. 2. Put on my headphones and listen to AC/DC. Especially Thunderstruck, For Those About to Rock, Long Way to the Top...then throw in some Ozzy for extra motivation. 3. No. I wanted to get some assists. I want to set up our goalscorers, so I didnt do my job this time. 4. Gatorade and peanut butter sandwich, nothing too fancy for me. 5. That is tough, I like them all. But I never had the ability when I was younger to be good enough to play any in real life. I am a life-long football fan. But as I have gotten older, baseball, soccer, Nascar and F1 racing, hockey, lots of them, lol 6. Cheeseburger!!

F - Matt Evans D - Nils Tallinder @Enorama Sorry, I am not sure why it did that when I tried to reply the previous time. Is there a way I can delete the post?

F Matt Evans D - Nils Tallinder @enorama

The last few weeks have been a whirlwind, a dream, a fog maybe? I just hope that I dont crash back down to reality and find myself back at home in Castletownbere. Not that I didnt like it there, but it is alot different than Houston! Let me see if I can wrap my mind around all of this. I had been having a good career in the local Irish league. They told me I was one of the fastest guys. I was leading in assists and was second in scoring, but that was the way it had been the last few years. I dont remember when I started to win the "Most Assists" award, but I have a few of them. I added some scoring titles and 3 league Most Valuable Player awards along the way and it looked like this season was going to be the same. That is, until the call came. Ronan Lavelle is well known in Irish hockey circles. The Irishman who led the way and showed all of us on the ice that we too could play at a higher level. He is who we all want to be like, playing at the highest levels of the sport in one of the best places to play, the United States. Rumor was that he was back in Ireland and was trying to catch some local matches. I had even heard he had been to some of ours, but who really believes that stuff? I didnt, why would he want to watch us play? We had fun, but it was just that, a fun league. Then I got that call. I had just gotten home from our latest match. We had won 4-2, I had a goal and 2 assists, so not too bad I thought. It kept us in the lead and closer to another league title. The phone rang (yea, we still have a landline telephone, yea, dad is really old-fashioned) as dad and I were talking about the match. He never missed one, he was my best support, and critic. He always offered insights and suggestions on how to get better and this was no exception. Mom answered the phone and we heard her voice break after she said hello. Dad and I looked at each other, her parents are not getting any younger and still live in Pennsylvania, what had happened? But then those words, when we hear them there is such a rush of emotions: excitement, fear, joy, trepidation...yea, a real jumble of feelings to say the least...but mom said, "Its for you" and with a trembling hand, gave me the phone. I somehow said hello and heard a voice I know so well, the voice of Ronan Lavelle, RONAN LAVELLE IS CALLING ME!!! I dont remember what he said right after that and no, I will never tell him that!. But finally I was able to get myself under control and realized he wanted me to join the minor league team he managed in Houston. I mumbled that he would need to talk to my dad and handed the phone over as I sunk into the settee. The next day Ronan was in the house as he discussed his plans, a contract, all of it with my parents. I hit Insta to let EVERYONE know RONAN LAVELLE was in my house! You better believe there were some selfies and some posting going on after it was all over with! Is it bad that all I really remember is that I would be going to Houston and was getting a signing bonus of $1,500,000. DAYUM!! Yea, that is right, I was getting PAID! The contract was signed, I hurriedly packed and caught a plane to Houston. Yea, it was in 1st class and right beside Ronan (we are on a first name basis now). Hell, I am famous for just knowing Ronan! We landed early in the morning and got in the stretch limousine. Oh my! This car was so BIG! He got me into the dorm at training camp and said we will hit the ice on Monday. So get acclimated and adjusted to hit the ice with the fire and determination he saw back home. I am lying on my bed after realizing I never knew what heat was! I decided to go for a walk and that lasted about 5 minutes! This is so much different than Ireland! I feel lost and am desperate for some real fish and chips and vinegar, why cant I find a good chippie? So many things are different, but I know that when I put on my skates and hit the ice, I will be at home again, no matter where I am. More next week....I hope

One of the toughest things I have ever had to explain is how does a guy with the last name of Boudreaux end up being Irish and on top of that loving hockey instead of football (okay, you call it soccer, but I still call it football). Yes, there is a story behind it and as you can well imagine, it is a good one. My great-great-great-great-great grandfather was from Ireland. He and his family left the Emerald Isle during the Great Potato Famine in the 1840s. As many of the Irish immigrants of that time, they landed in New York City. The family eventually moved to Pennsylvania where he became a coal miner and was part of the group known as the Molly Maguires from mining lore, but that is another story. The family stayed in that area and worked in the mines. Generation after generation started in the mines as soon as they could get hired, married a local girl, had children and the cycle would repeat. That is, until my mother was born. Orla Donoughue (can you get more Irish than that!) as a teenager knew she wanted more, not that living in the mining region was bad, but coal mining was in the decline and more and more people were moving away from the area, she wanted to be part of that movement. She had developed an interest in music and found she loved traditional Irish music. She searched for a college to allow her to pursue this love and found Tulane. She convinced her parents that this is what she wanted and she went to school in the state of Louisiana which was a huge culture shock for the young lady from the mining communities of Pennsylvania! She loved the food, the atmosphere, not the weather so much, and the music, oh the music of New Orleans! One night, she met my father as she was sitting in a small blues club soaking in the music of the soul, the blues. My dad, Hugo Boudreaux, is Cajun through and through. The family traces its heritage back to the early history of New Orleans. Just as my mom's family had stayed in Pennsylvania, my dad's had stayed in New Orleans. Dad was a musician, yes, you guessed it, a blues musician. But he loved other types of music, I guess you could say that music flowed through his veins. They hit it off and were pretty much inseparable from that point on. Mom, just a sophomore at Tulane, and dad, a blues musician in New Orleans seemed destined to stay in New Orleans. That is until they took their honeymoon. Dad had traveled to Pennsylvania to ask for mom's hand in marriage (he is so old fashioned) and the 2 families pitched in together to pay for their honeymoon, a trip to Ireland. As they say, the rest is history. Mom and dad got here, fell in love with everything "Ireland" and emigrated back home (as mom calls it). Hockey? Mom is a HUGE hockey fan!! Dad had to convince her not to name me Wayne Gretzky Boudreaux! To spend time with mom, dad went to hockey games. As he grew to love the sport, it became a part of the family experience. So when I was born, that is what we did as a family, watched hockey games. Dad enjoyed learning how to play as I was doing it. It just felt natural, even though finding teams in Ireland wasnt easy, we always found a way to make it work. Now, I am on the other side of the world (it feels like that to me) in Houston pursuing my dream. I am not sure what comes next, but so far, it has been one hell of a ride!

F - Duncan Idaho @Enorama

#HornsUp

Yes, I will give it a shot

Player Information Username: Otis Boudreaux Player Name: Otis Boudreaux Recruited From: Other (Gohls) Age: 16 Position: RW Height: 73 in. Weight: 190 lbs. Birthplace: Ireland Player Page @VHLM GM